


Was it worth it?

by booklover4eva



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, Gen, I'm Bad At Summaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-05
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-11-24 15:07:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 770
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20909633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/booklover4eva/pseuds/booklover4eva
Summary: An encounter between you (the reader) and Minerva Mcgonagall.





	Was it worth it?

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, sorry for not updating any of my work but my muse has buggered off to timbuktu, so I've written this to try and get her to come back lol.  
Sorry for the grammar and spelling errors btw, this was written on my phone because someone commented on some artwork I shared(but didn't make) to a group I'm part of on Facebook.

Her back is turned to you, too busy fighting your comrades, you fire a curse at her and she whips around and bats it away with ease.  
You sneer at her and cast three more in quick succession, her wand is a blur of movement as she counters each one and you can only gape in surprise when she returns fire. You're not sure how many spells she casts at you but by the time you've shielded the last one you're both panting for breath.  
"Was it worth it?" She asks you.  
"What?" You stare at her incredulously, unable to believe she was talking to you.  
"Was it worth it?" She asks again, she stares at you over her glasses and you feel like you're back in her classroom as she taps her foot impatiently waiting for an answer.  
You shake your head to get rid of the memory.  
"Of course it was," You say gesturing to the battle still raging around you both. "We're winning aren't we?" You meant to say it but it comes out as a question as her stare becomes disapproving, you shift your feet nervously and curse the fact that Mcgonagall can still make you feel like a naughty school kid even though you're in your thirties now.  
Her lips purse and her frown deepens and suddenly you remember the last time you saw that expression on her face.  
You were fifteen and a couple of gryffindors had cornered you after transfiguration, they had cursed you with the jelly leg jinx and were taunting you, calling you a death eater in training when Mcgonagall had burst into the corridor disarming them and began berating them both, you remember how she had helped you to the hospital wing. You had asked her why she had bothered helping you after all you were just a "slimy snake" and they were gryffindors, she'd taken your hand in hers and told you that the colour of your tie meant nothing to her, that she was the deputy and as such she looked out for all of her students not just the ones in red and gold.  
An explosion to your left brings you out of your memories and you attack her again even as other memories filter through your mind of all the times she helped you with your work, chasing bullies away and the proud glint in her eye when you got a spell right in class.  
A pained groan brings you back to the present again and your eyes widen when you realise you've accidentally stood on one of the bodies littering the courtyard, suddenly you're flying through the air as pain rips into your chest.  
Mcgonagall is now kneeling over the girl you stood on and that's when you notice the Hogwarts Crest on her robes 'A student then' you think, you doubt anything else could garner such a reaction from the normally stoic deputy.  
You stand up on shaking legs and laugh, a mistake you realise after.  
She stands in front of the girl, wand moving faster than you thought possible firing curses, hoaxes and jinxes and you are forcefully reminded of rumours you had heard at school, rumours you had scoffed at, of Mcgonagall. Dumbledore's lieutenant they'd called her, his right hand woman, much like Bellatrix is for Him.  
"No way" You had said at the time when Mulcibur had told you she regularly fought multiple opponents, cutting them down like weeds. She was too old, you thought, well past her prime but when you feel your legs buckle as another spell hits you're forced to concede that he was right. Your head hits the floor and your gaze drifts towards the castle, taking in the rubble and bodies that litter the courtyard.  
"Too small," you think, "The bodies are too small." Children, you realise, you'd been fighting children, footsteps sound nearby and you turn to find Mcgonagall kneeling on the floor next to you, her lips are thinner than you've ever seen them and she's glaring at you even as her wand moves over you, helping you.  
"All my students." She'd said so long ago, and watching her try to save you despite all you'd done you finally believe her.  
"Was it worth it?" She asks you again and you find yourself smiling, bitter though it is.  
"No," Your hand closes over hers, stilling her wand, your eyesight is almost gone now and you can feel yourself fading but you force yourself to continue, wanting her to know, you turn your head to face where you know the children are. "It never was." 


End file.
